When I first started my freshman year of college I thought, "Well
hey, this isn't so different from high school." Everyone seemed to act the same;
it's just that I was in a new environment, commuting, and paying money to go to
school. But there's a lot more to it.
While waiting for a friend so we could take the subway together,
I sat in a lounge and aimlessly stared out into the partial view of Chicago. It
was already 12 in the afternoon and I only had two classes left for the day. I
skimmed through my readings for all my classes and suddenly I realized that
they all were connected in some way. My intercultural communications class, my Latin
American art history class, my freshman math class, and my Spanish class all
had this central theme of different perspectives and culture. Even looking back
on my classes for previous quarters, each course interconnected with similar
themes and ideas. I honestly don't know how I didn't realize this before.
In high school, you usually take classes because you have
prerequisites to fill or just because it's the next level of the class to take.
Math is math and foreign language is foreign language. You never think about
your math class while you're learning a foreign language.
But in college, these classes are meant to be intertwined with
similar themes. They can actually be
applied to life outside class. I remember always asking myself, "So when will I
use this in my life?" It seemed so pointless to do pre-calculus or even some of
my English classes.
Today, I see that I learn about the Spanish language as well as
more about its culture and history through my Spanish class, Latin American art
history class, and intercultural communications class.
Instead of taking classes to fill prerequisites, I'm taking
classes to gain a better understanding of not just another culture, but myself
as well. It's a really cool thing to realize!